451 
f8 F8 





AN ADDRESS 



•DELIVERED BEFORE THE- 



:]iAumi Agricultural Jjomtn 



-ON THE- 



icjtk day of October, 1876, 



-AT- 



CULPEPPER, VIRGINIA. 



-BY- 



Hon. "William Fullerton. 



Published at the request of the Society. 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

\ piedmont ^gricultitral Jjomtg 



-ON THE- 



i gth day of Octobei', 1876, 



CULPEPPER, VIRGINIA. 



-BY- 



Hon. William Fullerton. 



PublisJud at the request of the Society 






A 






Mr. President and Members of the Piedmont Agri- 
cultural Society : 

The production of the largest crops 
with the least labor and expense, is the great object to be 
attained by the cultivation of the soil. How to accomplish 
this is a question now agitating the whole agricultural 
world. It must be conceded that it has not been done in 
Virginia, That much of her lands are unproductive from 
bad cultivation admits of no denial. Her bare hills, the 
pestiferous broom sedge, meagre crops, fields abandoned to 
unsightly pines, the absence of grass and cattle, are unim- 
peachable witnesses that prove her agriculture defective. 

1 should hesitate to use this language, were it not that 
what I assert is candidly admitted and deplored by all her 
leading citizens. This ought not so to be. With her large 
territory, her easily- cultivated lands, her genial and salu- 
brious climate, her energetic and intelligent people, her 
facilities for reaching good markets, Virginia ought to be 
one of the leading States in agricultural products, and her 
farmers among the most pros}>erous of her citizens. In 
order to become so, she has only to use her natural advan- 
tages, and restore to her soil that which an improvident 
agriculture has deprived it of. 

It is but just to say, however, that this condition of 
things is not confined to Virginia alone. Wherever man 
has planted and reaped, the same ruinous consequences 
have followed. Lands naturally rich and productive have 
become infertile. « 

The whole of the Atlantic States, to a greater or less 
degree, are suffering from exhaustion. Though improvi- 



dently cultivated, they once yielded bountiful harvests, 
but now fall far short of sustaining their population. Even 
the rich prairies of the West are rapidly deteriorating. 
The same wasteful method of cultivation is pursued there, 
and the same fatal results are in the near future. And 
even the Old World long since became alarmed by the 
discovery that while her population was rapidly increasing, 
the products of her soil, upon which it was to sub- 
sist, were as rapidly diminishing. A remedy was eagerly 
sought for. 

Governments took the matter in hand ; the services of 
learned and scicntinc men were enlisted; and during the 
past half century, there has been no question of political 
economy, in either hemisphere, upon which has been 
expended so much thought and labor. 

And these labors have not been without good results. 
Nature has yielded up her secrets to the skill of man. The 
laboratory of the chemist has disclosed the laws which 
regulate and govern plant growth, and taught us how crops 
feed and grow, and upon what food they subsist. 

The value of these discoveries to the human family can 
not be estimated. There never was a time when the tillers 
of the soil could prosecute their calling with so much intel- 
ligence and certainty of success, as the present. And if they 
do not hereafter find their labors better rewarded, it will 
be because they shut their eyes to the light that is afforded 
them. To be ignorant of these discoveries at the present 
day is to be without excuse. 

Agricultural Colleges and stations, with their admirable 
systems of experiments, and agricultural journals, where 
there is such a valuable interchange of thought and experi- 
ence upon all subjects connected with the cultivation of 
the soil ; and Agricultural Societies, where the results of 
different systems of cultivation are exhibited, afford oppor- 
tunities for improvement which it is almost criminal to 
neglect. 



There is no other calling in life in which there is mani- 
fested such an indifference to new discoveries, as is seen 
among the tillers of the soil. If a mechanic or manufacturer 
should in like manner fail to avail himself of improved im- 
plements or machinery, he would be compelled to relinquish 
his business. It is the farmer alone who resists any thing- 
new appertaining to his calling. This arises mainly from a 
deep-seated prejudice against what is called scientific or 
book farming. 

A great majority of those engaged in cultivating the soil 
regard it as a mere muscular exercise, rather than a scientific 
pursuit ; and they have regarded with indifference, if not 
with positive displeasure, every attempt to impart to it a 
scientific character. This is a serious error. Science is not 
learning. It is merely the interpretation of the laws of 
nature, and an unlettered man may do that. Indeed, some 
of the most valuable discoveries to the human race have 
been made by uneducated men. 

He, who by intelligent experiment and observation 
increases the products of his land, and maintains its fer- 
tility, is a scientific farmer. And such a man has only to 
prosecute his work in the light of modern discoveries, to 
reap a rich reward for his labors. He will learn how the 
crops he cultivates feed and grow, and what is their respec- 
tive appropriate food, and that providing the same nutri- 
ment for all kinds of crops is as unwise as it would be to 
feed the same kind of food to all animals. 

But farmers as a general thing shrink from the study of 
agricultural chemistry, because they regard it as an occult 
science, requiring great research and investigation to com- 
prehend it. So it does ; but there are some elementary 
truths which lie at the foundation of the science, which 
every farmer can comprehend and apply to the cultivation 
of the soil. 

It is not long since I saw a man making a compost of 
caustic lime with fresh barnyard manure. If he had under- 



6 

stood the chemical action of the lime, he would have known 
that the ammonia, the most valuable ingredient of the 
mixture, would be entirely dissipated by it, and the com- 
post itself rendered almost worthless. He would also have 
known that if lime in another form — that of a sulphate- 
had been substituted, it would have preserved, instead of 
dispelling this same ingredient, and thereby added largely 
to the value of his mixture. It is a want of familiarity 
with these things, that renders them distasteful to the 
farmer. If he would make a few of the simple principles 
of chemical action his study, and become familiar with 
them, they would lose their mystery and he could profitably 
and safely apply them in his business, lie does not hesitate 
to mix lime and sand together, when he has occasion to 
use mortar, and he sees and comprehends the chemical 
union which follows. He slakes his lime by pouring water 
upon it, and he witnesses the effects of that chemical law 
which causes it to heat, disintegrate, and fall into powder, 
lit for his use. He sees the housewife use yeast in making 
bread, and beholds the beautiful and useful results. These 
things -ay? familiar to him from daily use, and the mystery 
which otherwise would envelope them has disappeared. 
He justly regards a knowledge of them as indispensable. 
But when you talk to him about the chemical laws which 
are involved in the growth of plants, how T the soil becomes 
exhausted of their necessary food, and the means necessary 
to its restoration, he turns a deaf ear, and treats the subject 
as too intricate for his comprehension, and therefore one to 
which he should give little or no attention. Whereas there 
is nothing in all this that should deter him from investiga- 
tion, but much that should induce it. 

If there had been the same shrinking from the applica- 
tion of chemical laws in the arts, by unlettered men, the 
world would not have advanced where it now is. The 
article of soap in daily use in every household is manufac- 
tured by men who make no pretensions to a knowledge of 



chemistry. Tliey neither care nor need to know beyond 
the fact that the chemical combination of certain materials 
in given proportions produces the results which they seek 
to attain. The same thing may be said of the manufacture 
of gunpowder, that explosive material which requires such 
delicate manipulation, or of a score of other things which 
will readily occur to you all. 

Indeed there is nothing in the laws governing the growth 
of plants any more intricate or difficult of comprehension 
than those which are involved in the manufacture of the 
articles named, or in making butter or cooking food, which 
is daily practiced in every household. I repeat, it is only 
necessary that farmers should become familiar with the 
laws which govern the growth of their crops, in order to 
dispel that mystery which deters them from availing them- 
selves of their advantages. 

I have spoken of the alarm which once prevailed lest the 
production of the earth, lessened as it was by reckless and 
wasteful tillage, would not keep pace with its rapidly-in- 
creasing population, and of the means adopted to discover 
a remedy. The result is, that to-day it is as well known 
what our crops extract from the earth, which tend to its 
exhaustion, and how fertility can be restored to it, as it is 
that light and heat are necessary to successful cultivation. 
And this knowledge, so dearly acquired, and so reluctantly 
accepted by those who could be most benefited by it, is 
absolutely indispensable to an intelligent and successful 
cultivation of the soil. 

I do not mean to be understood as advocating the doc- 
trine that the farmer should be able to explain the great 
mysteries of nature, or attempt t<> analyse her productions, 
as the chemist does ; but I do mean to assert, that he should 
know that his crops feed as his cattle do, each one requiring 
its appropriate food, and that when this food is exhausted 
from the soil, it must be restored in Jcind, or sterility will 
follow. 



8 

And now let me approach this subject a little nearer, 
and see what these discoveries are, and whether I over- 
estimate their importance. 

Chemistry has determined with as much certainty what 
different materials enter into the composition of our crops, 
as the farmer can determine the different animals which 
are grazing in his fields. They are many in number, but I 
need mention only those which it is necessary we should 
restore to the soil in order to keep up its fertility, the earth 
as a, general rule containing a sufficiency of all others. 
They are three in number, viz. : Nitrogen, Potash, and 
Phosphoric Avid. Without all of these, no crop can grow. 
That is, deprive the soil entirely of any one of them, and it 
is sterile. And crops are large or small just in proportion 
as the proper quantities of these materials exist in the soil. 
So that the farmer may be assured that when his land fails 
to produce a remunerative crop, it is deficient in one or 
more of the constituents I have named. It is not enough 
for him to know that his land is poor, and wants enriching ; 
he should know what there is lacking in it to make it so. 
With the aid of chemistry, or what has been called book- 
learning, he can now know with as much certainty what 
quantities of these materials his corn or wheat have ex- 
tracted from the soil, as he can to what extent he has 
exhausted his bank account, by the checks he has drawn 
upon it. For example, fifty bushels of corn to the acre 
extracts from each acre 64 pounds of nitrogen, 77 pounds 
of potash, and 81 pounds of phosphoric acid. Barnyard 
manure is valuable only as it contains more or less of these 
ingredients. It follows, if the farmer sells his crop of corn, 
then for every fifty bushels that leaves the farm there is 
taken just the amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid I have named. If, on the other hand, he feeds his 
corn up on the farm by fattening animals, then much of 
these materials are retained on it, and returned to the soil. 



9 

That only is carried off which goes in the carcasses of the 
animals sold. 

It is seen by the example given that the exhaustion of 
the soil of these materials by a corn crop is not in equal 
quantities. Nor do any two crops exhaust the soil alike. 
This is an important fact for the farmer to know, for it 
enables him to see at once that when his land refuses 
to return a remunerative crop, it may be for the reason 
that only one, and not all, of these materials has been 
exhausted. 

We often hear complaints made that the continued use 
of guano will in the end exhaust land, and for that reason 
it has been condemned by many. A moment's intelligent 
consideration reveals the cause of such a result. By con- 
stantly using guano in the cultivation of a crop which takes 
from the soil more of any one and less of the other two 
materials named than the guano supplies, you can see very 
plainly that the ingredient so disproportic >nately drawn upon 
will in the end be insufficient for the crop, when there would 
be a surplus of the others. Soil in this condition is unpro- 
ductive for the lack of only one of the elements of plant 
food, and by the application of that one can be restored to 
productiveness. A knowledge of this simple fact leads to 
economy in farming. If land needs potash, it is a waste of 
time and money to apply bones or nitrogen. 

This is very frequently the condition of land, and it is 
the reason why we so often hear complaints that super- 
phosphate or bone meal had no effect. The materia] in 
such cases is pronounced spurious, and the vender con- 
demned in unmeasured terms. Bones contain no potash, 
and superphosphate no nitrogen, and by adding either or 
both of these to land which is deficient only in potash is as 
wide of the mark as to offer corn to a well fed horse, when 
he is dying for water. 

When we observe that no two crops which the farmer 
cultivates require the same amount of the different kinds of 



10 

plant food for their perfection, it opens a wide field for the 
exercise of intelligence and observation in managing a farm. 
If the farmer has raised a crop of wheat, he knows that the 
land has parted largely with its nitrogen and phosphates, 
and has retained a large per cent, of its potash. He sees at 
once that such land will produce a crop for which potash 
is the dominant manure, and where little of nitrogen or 
phosphoric acid is required ; and so from time to time he 
will regulate his crops by an enlightened policy, and not 
by blind chance. 

It follows that whatever is sold from the farm must, to 
a greater or less extent, diminish its fertility. Nature, on 
the other hand, renovates by her processes, instead of 
exhausting the earth. In forest and held, whatever grows 
in the soil is returned to it in the shape of leaf and branch. 
AVhatever the air has contributed to vegetable growth is 
so much gain, and to that extent the soil is made richer 
instead of poorer. But the farmer cannot imitate nature 
in this respect. He must carry his products to the market 
away from the farm, and in this way there is a constant 
process of exhaustion which, unless compensated for in 
some way, will lead to ruin. 

It therefore becomes a vitally important question for 
the farmer, whether he can restore to the soil what his 
products take from it, at a cost which will ensure a profit ; 
and if so, by what means. 

From what has been already said, it follows that there 
is no system of agriculture by which the farmer can keep 
his farm to the highest state of fertility, by the use of the 
manure he can make upon it. This lias been demonstrated 
by all experience, and would seem to be a well settled, if 
not self-evident, proposition. Relying sold// upon barn- 
yard manure is not a wise policy. Let us see what it con- 
tains. This, science has demonstrated for us. 

Assuming that a, cord of average barn yard manure 
weighs 3000 pounds (and that is about its average weight,) 



11 

it contains by actual tests 2456 pounds of water, L38 pounds 
of common sand, and 832 pounds of carbonaceous matter 
which is of no more value than common straw. There is 
left then only 74 pounds of active fertilizing material, pos- 
sessing a money value. The loss in carting so much worth- 
less material is apparent. The 74 pounds which is only 
valuable, could be carried by the farmer to the field in one 
hand, and applied in a few minutes. I do not mean by this 
to discourage the manufacture or use of barn yard manure. 
On the contrary, I would enjoin farmers to make more than 
they do, and to protect it with the greatest care from sun 
and rain before applying it, I am only trying to show that, 
inasmuch as the farmer must purchase outside materials for 
fertilization, that there is an advantage in getting them in 
a concentrated form so as to lessen the cost of hauling and 
application. 

About the first resort of the farmer, heretofore, in order 
to supply this deficiency on the farm has been the purchase 
of Peruvian guano. When obtained pure, this is a most 
excellent fertilizer, but for reasons already stated it cannot 
be relied upon through a series of years for crops requiring 
a greater amount of certain portions of plant food than that 
which exists in the guano itself. The same ingredients it 
contains can be purchased separately in reliable form, and 
the farmer can compound them in such proportions as suit 
the different crops he cultivates. Bones will furnish him 
his phosphates, the nitrate of soda his nitrogen, and the 
Stassfurt salts his potash, and by a prudent and intelligent 
composition of these he can meet the wants of eacli crop lie 
cultivates, and at the same time economise in their use by 
knowing the deficiencies of his soil. 

It is in vain that the farmer seeks for a single manure 
which will meet the demands of all crops, for no such exists. 
In Virginia there is a great variety of soil. No two fields 
are alike in respect to their composition. They need diff- 
erent treatment, and the application of different materials 



12 



in different proportions, and he who expects to find any one 
thing that shall act equally well on all soils, is certain of 
disappointment. 

This brings us to the subject of expense, and one of 
vast importance. In treating of expense I am aware I am 
encountering the prejudices of many who have purchased 
commercial fertilizers and applied them indiscriminately to 
lands without reference to their particular needs, thereby 
entailing a serious loss. I have already referred to this 
subject, and shown how the error was committed. Wisdom 
is gained by experience. And if any one who has suffered 
in this way will give the matter sufficient attention to com- 
prehend it, he will see where his mistake was and remedy 
it. Science has done her part in making the way plain for 
him. It has furnished in the market all those elements out 
of which nature manufactures her products, and in the form 
in which she requires them. They can be had at a price 
which farmers can afford to pay. Whatever he lacks on 
the farm he can readily supply himself with, and his intel- 
ligence, the outgrowth of observation and experience, must 
do the rest. Of one thing he may rest assured that if he 
uses the means at his command, as he can and should, he 
can invest his money in fertilizers so as to reap large returns 
for the outlay. 

No farmer can prosecute his business successfully on 
poor land, and there is no necessity for doing it, for any 
great length of time. It is a waste of time and money, of 
energy, and of life itself. It brings neither money to the 
pocket, nor joy to the heart. Farming is a very hard life 
unless it brings pleasure, aside from the profit. It is neces- 
sary for the farmers' enjoyment as it is for his pocket, that 
his land should produce what it is capable of when well fed 
and cultivated. And he can no more afford to raise less 
than that, than he can afford to pay his hired man full 
wages and require him to labor but a part of the time. The 
interest on the cost of his land is running whether the land 



13 

yields much or nothing, and the tax-gatherer must lie satis- 
fied though the garners may be empty. 

Cultivating a farm without getting from it as large a 
result as the land is reasonably capable of producing, in- 
volves a useless loss. The difference between a crop of 80 
and 20 bushels of corn to the acre, is the difference between 
success and failure. The expense of cultivating the larger- 
crop is but little more than that of the other, while the cost 
of production of the smaller crop, compared with the result, 
is very much greater. Here, then, is the secret of the 
farmers' success or failure. Large crops within a small area 
should be his aim ; and all his energies should be given to 
its accomplishment. If he has not sufficient manure to 
enrich twenty acres, let him put what he has upon ten. If 
the supply is insufficient for ten then reduce the area to five. 
At all events whatever space Tie cultivates let him enrich it 
and raise a maximum crop. 

I know what some of you may say, that in consequence 
of the lack of means, I am recommending impossibilities. 
I respectfully, yet earnestly deny the soundness of any such 
proposition. There are very few farmers so limited in their 
means that they cannot at once enter upon, the system of 
cultivation which I shall point out, and which will as cer- 
tainly result to their benefit as that seed time and harvest 
shall continue. I venture to lay down this proposition as 
indisputable, that there are farmers who entertain the idea 
that they cannot afford to buy fertilizers, who waste enough 
each year in unwise tillage to supply themselves with them. 
I have seen such cultivate a large area of poor land at an 
expense which would have enabled them to fertilize and 
cultivate one-half of such area so as to make it produce as 
much as did the whole. And this diminished area could 
not only have been made to produce as much as twice its 
extent in acres, but it would be left after the crop was re- 
moved in a condition which with a proper rotation would 
cause it to increase, and not to diminish in its fertility. 



14 

The amount annually lost in this State from too large 
farms, and the cultivation of too great a surface without 
remunerative returns, and the sale of whatever is so pro- 
duced from the farms, without any return to the soil of the 
elements removed by the crops, is something alarming to 
contemplate. Such a reckless system would impoverish any 
land, however productive in its natural condition. And 
when I recommend the purchase of fertilizers, in order to 
insure large crops, it is not with a view of encouraging that 
system of tillage which removes everything from the farm 
which is, produced upon it. Nothing but a truck farm, 
where vegetables are raised for city consumption, could 
warrant the expense of such husbandry. 

The necessary steps towards an improved husbandry in 
this State are : 

1 . To cultivate less land. 

2. To make that which is cultivated rich in plant food, so 
that it may produce large crops. 

3. The practice of a rigid system of rotation of crops, and 
mixed farming. 

4. The cultivation of the grasses and less of the cereals, 
and feeding upon the farm the most of its products. 

5. Raising clover and enriching the land by turning under 
green crops. 

I speak earnestly and sincerely when I say that I believe 
that the faithful practice of such a system of tillage would 
in ten years increase the value of real estate in Virginia 100 
per cent., and place the farming population in an independ- 
ent condition. There is nothing new in these suggestions. 
They are the same old, old story, oft repeated and often 
disregarded. They, nevertheless, employ the true policy 
for tillage, and the time will come when they will be uni- 
versally adopted. 

The advantage in small farms can scarcely be over esti- 
mated. France is an eminent example of this, and she is 
to-day the wonder of the world. With a territory not 



15 

equal to one-fifteenth of our States, and but little greater 
than Texas, she raises nearly double the wheat produced by 
the United States, and besides supporting a population of 
nearly forty millions, her exports the last year exceeded 
our own. This all arises out of the fact that her farms 
average less than sixty acres, and are made to produce to 
the full extent of their capacity. 

All observation and experience go to show that those 
sections of the country are most prosperous where a mixed 
system of farming prevails. Not only a nation, but a farm 
should be as near self supporting as possible ; and that 
mode of cultivation which comes nearest to accomplishing 
that object ensures the largest measure of success. 

The farmer who finds in his own garners that which is 
needed to supply his daily wants is far removed from the 
vexations and losses attendant upon outside purchases which 
so severely tax his means. It is not unfrequently the case, 
when he produces but a single article for the market, that 
it commands a price which but poorly compensates him for 
his labor, while he has to pay exhorbitant prices for that 
which he is compelled to purchase. This is "selling the 
hide for a penny, and buying back the tail for a shilling, " 
which surely is not a profitable transaction. 

Mixed agriculture necessarily leads to a system of rota- 
tion of crops which is the key to successful farming. That 
there is a vast recuperative power in lands where a success- 
ion of different crops is grown no one can deny in the light 
of universal experience. Thousands of those who have 
hitherto devoted themselves to a single production, such as 
cotton, tobacco, or grain, now acknowledge their error. 

Successive crops of the same character exhaust lands of 
the particular food they require, with great rapidity. The 
aid which nature so freely renders where crops rotate, is 
withheld in such a system of cultivation, because the farmer 
is violating her laws. To fight against nature is to war at 
fearful odds, and it is not difficult to forecast the result. To 



16 

work in harmony with her, ensures a comparatively easy 
victory. One of the most beautiful of her provisions is that 
while one crop exhausts the soil of that element which 
enters most largely into its composition, by the operation 
of some mysterious law, it prepares that same soil for some 
other crop of a different character. This is a very curious 
and interesting process of nature, which results immensely 
to our advantage if we accept her aid. As an illustration 
of this principle, we know that clover does not successfully 
follow itself, although it leaves the ground in the best tjos- 
sible condition for corn or wheat. One crop therefore 
restores in a measure what another has taken. By raising 
continuously the same plant you interefere with this beauti- 
ful contrivance of nature to rebuild her wasted strength. 
How this is done is imperfectly understood. We do know, 
however, that the deep-rooted plants, like clover, will pump 
from the depths below for the use of those that grow near 
the surface that food which has been carried beyond their 
reach. And not only that, this element when thus brought 
to the surface acts chemically upon what it finds there, and 
renders soluble and available as plant food, what before 
was inert, and resisted assimilation. 

Nature, therefore, will do much of our work for us if 
we will only second her efforts, and give full scope to her 
beneiicient laws. It is, therefore, a question for the farmer 
to determine whether he will, by a rotation of crops, have 
his soil enriched by drafts on nature's treasury, or draw 
entirely upon his own. 

I do not mean to argue that there is nothing for the 
farmer to do but follow this system of rotation to make his 
lands productive. Far from it. But I do argue that he 
may make nature a co-worker with him in attaining a most 
desirable end. Change is a prominent feature in nature's 
economy. Cut down the forest of hard wood and the pines 
succeed. Again, remove the pines and the hard wood re- 
appears. One kind of grass succeeds another and nature 



17 

supplies the seed. These changes give the soil rest, to the 
end that the process of reinvigoration may go on. Day and 
night succeed each other, and each performs its particular 
function in promoting vegetable life. Eternal sunshine 
would result in eternal blight. The falling dew brings with 
it the nitrogen from the air to gladden vegetation. The sun 
appears. Its light and heat liberate the acids and gases 
which enter upon their work of usefulness in preparing a 
variety of vegetable food. 

Winter and Summer follow each other. Frost disinteg- 
rates and renders the earth porous, opening the way for the 
heat and moisture of Summer, so that chemical laws may 
work out their beautiful results. 

Thus unceasingly, year after year, the silent agencies 
are at work preparing the earth for man's use, that it may 
bring forth abundantly of everything which was designed 
by a benehcient Creator for his support. 

There can be no rational or successful rotation of crops, 
unless grass, including clover (and for all present purposes 
I shall treat clover as one of the grasses) holds a conspicu- 
ous place. The great need of Virginia, to-day, is grass. 
It is the great source of the world's wealth. I do not over- 
rate its value as estimated at the present, or in ancient 
times. 

In issuing the command which brought vegetable life 
into existence grass was first enumerated. 

"And God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb 
yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its 
kind." 

"And the earth brought forth grass, and God saw that 
it was good." 

This was before the creation of man or beast, and was 
designed to fit the earth for both. 

Named first in the order of creation it stands among the 
first in importance to the human family. All history shows 
that no nation was ever agriculturally prosperous, that did 



18 

not make it one of its chief products. Raising grass neces- 
sarily involves raising cattle, and you can measure the 
prosperity of any nation by the number of cattle within its 
borders. That kind of husbandry takes less from the soil 
than any other, and requires less labor to prosecute it. 

A practical Southern writer, in speaking of the high 
price of lands in the North as compared with those in the 
South, uses this forcible language : 

' ' Why this difference \ Is the land in these countries 
' better than ours ? Not by nature — if it be better it is by 
' the difference of treatment. Is their climate better than 
' ours ? The acknowledged superiority is on our side. Are 
' the prices of their products any better than ours % On an 
'average not so good. Are their taxes lighter than ours \ 
k If we were compelled to pay their tax, either at the North 
' or in England our land would be at once sold for taxes. 
'Have they valuable crops, which they can raise, and 
' which we cannot raise % There is not a farm product in 
1 either Old or New England which we cannot raise in equal 
' perfection at the South. Is their labor cheaper than ours \ 
' The cost of labor at the North nearly doubles the cost of 
' labor at the South. In England labor is cheaper than 
' with us. But the difference is, perhaps, compensated by 
' the poor and church rates, and other excessive taxes paid 
'by the English farmer. 11 

k ' If, then, our climate is as good as that of the countries 
' referred to, if our land is as good as theirs, if our products 
' bring as good prices, if our taxes are much lighter, if we 
' can grow all the crops that they grow, if labor is cheaper 
' with us than it is at the North, and if difference in taxes 
' compensates for the cheapness of labor in England, why 
1 is it that their land is so valuable, and ours so valueless % ' ' 
k 'We shall find the map of use to us in answering this 
' question. If we take the map of the United States, and 
' put our linger upon the States or parts of States in which 
v land sells at the highest price, we shall find that in those 



19 

"States or parts of States the greatest attention is paid to 
"the cultivation of the grasses and forage plants. If we 
" open the map of Europe we shall find the same rule holds 
"good. The cheapest lands in Europe are those of Spain, 
"where little attention is paid to grasses. The value of 
' ' lands rises exactly in proportion to the attention which is 
"given to them; in England and Holland reaching some- 
" times, for farming purposes, to $1,000 per acre. Holland 
" is almost a continuous meadow. This land value culmi- 
" nates in Lombardy, where irrigated meadow lands rent 
"for $60 to $100 per acre. Without exception, in Europe 
' ' and America, where a large portion of land is in grass or 
"forage crops, the price of land is high, reaching the figures 
"above mentioned. On the other hand, without exception, 
' ' wherever in either continent the grasses do not receive this 
"attention, landed estate is of comparatively low value." 
' ' Now when in the investigation of the cause of a given 
' ' effect, we find in a number of instances in which the result 
"occurs, the presence uniformly of a particular agent, and 
"in a number of similar instances in which the result does 
"not occur we find this agent to be absent; then unless 
"good reasons to the contrary be given, we are at liberty 
" to attribute the result to the presence of this agent. The 
"conclusion is irresistible that a large attention to the cul- 
tivated grasses is essential not only to improved agricul- 
" ture, but also to a high value of landed estate. If there 
"be a flaw in this reasoning the writer has been unable to 
"detect it. Fifteen years ago this solution was offered of 
"the apparently anomalous condition of our lands, so 
"favored as to all the elements of agriculture and yet so 
"ruinously low in saleable value. Time has but strength- 
"ened the conviction of its correctness. The argument is 
"strengthened by the consideration that extended grass 
" culture in any country is an index of the existence of an 
w l improved agriculture. Where this occurs there must be 
" large numbers of horses or mules, sheep and cattle. These 



20 

"produce an abundance of manure. Where there is an 
" abundance of manure there will be large crops. Where 
" there are large crops land will be valuable. These results 
"follow from the grass crop as the first cause." 

The abundance and superior quality of the grasses which 
abound in some parts of this country has given rise recently 
to a new branch of trade which is not without significance. 
Weekly shipments of beef are now made to Europe from 
this country. The experiment seems to have been entirely 
successful, and it is thought that it is the beginning of a 
permanent and profitable trade, which may be increased to 
any extent. The meat thus shipped brings the highest 
market price — for it is equal to the best in the English 
market and far surpasses the most of it. Living as you do 
so near to the points of shipment you may be interested in 
knowing what the English papers think of this new enter- 
prise. You may be sure that if anything favorable is said 
of it by them, that it is deserved. 

In the October number of the Southern Planter and 
Farmer, I find the following extract from the Agricultural 
Gazette of London : 

"The success of the system is established, and, the trade 
"being consolidated, we may anticipate receiving impor- 
"tations that will have a sensible effect upon our meat 
' ' supplies, and consequent reduction in the present exor- 
1 1 1 »itant high prices of all descriptions of meat. The quality 
" of the meat of the grass-fed American bullocks is described 
"as equal to the finest Aberdeen beef; and when its ripe 
"condition from long suspension in a dry atmosphere at a 
" uniform temperature of 38° becomes known, we may anti- 
cipate a rivalry between the purveyors of the Clubs and 
"the hard working artisans, in the race to obtain the 
"American beef. The important question for the English 
"feeder to consider is, how is this obtrusive competitor to 
"be met on the retail butcher's stall? Alas! the day is 
"gone when the British farmer boasted of the high quality 



21 

' of his meat. The injudicious use of substances rich in 
' non-nitrogenous elements has injured the character and 
' deteriorated the quality of his beef and mutton. A com- 
k plaint arises from every householder, that meat at the 
'present time is too fat ; that nature's proportion of lean 
' and fat is disturbed, greatly to the disadvantage of the 
' consumer. The production of an enormous fat beast or 
' sheep is no indication of the intellect or skill of the ex- 
'hibitor. Give to a well bred animal an abundance of 
' substances rich in non-nitrogenous or fat-forming elements 
' and fat, and fat only is produced. Let the physiological 
' truth be admitted, that flesh is formed only from the 
' nitrogen existing in all vegetables, and the sensible feeder 
' anxious to produce well proportioned meat, will use with 
' judgement and not indiscriminately, the refuse of the ex- 
' pressed oily seeds* The American feeders probably could 
' never have invaded the English meat market at a more 
' opportune period. The shambles are sparsely covered, 
' and the quality of the meat exhibited is, generally speak - 
' ing unpopular and ill adapted to cope with the grass-fed 
'meat that they are prepared to offer." 

This means that good quality of beef that is raised near 
the sea-board, because animals that have been subject to 
the hardships and privations of transportation from distant 
points to the point of shipment, are not in a condition for 
exportation. I have been told by one of the largest cattle 
dealers in this country that animals fattened near the 
markets where they* are slaughtered, always bring higher 
prices for that reason, than those brought from a distance. 

It is not difficult to see that Virginia, in consequence of 
her admirable location, her superior winter climate, the 
adaptation of her soil to raising those grasses which produce 
the finest qualities of meat, is in a condition to profit very 
largely, by this new industry, if she puts herself in a con- 
dition to take advantage of it. And if she will get her lands 
in grass, introduce a prudent system of rotation of crops, 



22 

using the plow only to renew her grass lands when it is 
necessary, discontinue the raising of wheat except for home 
consumption, and raise corn only to be fed to her cattle, 
she can compete with the world in supplying the home and 
foreign markets with meat. 

It may be regarded as a maxim in farming, that, that 
system is most desirable, which enables the farmer to pro- 
duce, the largest amount in value at the least expense, and 
at the same time keep up the fertility of his soil. The 
cultivation of grass and feeding cattle for the market will 
better enable the farmer to accomplish this than the prose- 
cution of any other business. It does away to a great extent 
with the plow, the excessive use of which has been the curse 
of your state, and reduces the expenses of labor to the 
minimum amount. 

But I must speak more particularly of clover. It is 
called and properly so "the sheet anchor of American 
husbandry." Too much cannot be said in its praise. It is 
capable of doing more to bring your impoverished lands to 
a high state of cultivation with less expense than any one 
other agency. Its universal use as a restoring crop, would 
in a few years make Virginia as celebrated for her agriculture 
as she has ever been for her statesmen. And just in 
proportion as the farmer cultivates this plant will he be 
relieved from the necessity of purchasing commercial 
fertilizers to enrich his land. Whilst there is no system of 
cultivation which will enable the farmer to keep up the 
fertility of his land without resorting to such agencies, yet 
the use of clover will go very far towards accomplishing it. 

A writer in one of the prominent farm journals in 
speaking of clover says : 

"A few pounds of diminutive seed furnish machinery 
' ' to absorb from the atmosphere and pump out of the earth 
"the elements of fertility needed to replace what our waste- 
ful and improvident predecessors have expended. 1 
"solemnly believe that in the benign providence of God, 



23 

"clover is to be the Moses which is to deliver Southern 
"Agriculturists from the bondage of poverty and debt by 
"restoring our wasted and Avorn inheritance to its original 
"fertility." 

This language is not too strong. Clover does for the land 
what no other plant can. It is like the gleaner of old, it 
gathers up and makes useful what is lost. 

Nitrogen in the form of nitric acid, one of the most 
important and expensive elements, which enter into the 
growth of our crops, descends by the action of rains, so far 
into the soil as to be beyond the reach of ordinary plants. 
The roots of the clover plant are so many messengers to 
bring it back to the surface again. 

The coral insect does not more effectually extract from 
the waters of the sea the material which enables it to con- 
struct the wrecking reef than does the clover plant seek 
out and garner plant food from earth and air for man's use. 
And then as if to indicate what great office it was designed 
to perform in the economy of nature viz : — to prepare the 
way for other life, it refuses to consume this ingathered 
nutriment, but dies and leaves it for the nourishment of 
succeeding crops. It is this fact that has led farmers to say 
that their lands, where clover had grown in great luxuriance, 
but refused to grow longer, was clover sick. In other words 
it had performed its function, accomplished the great object 
of its life, and then like the silk worm, died. 

There is nothing truer in nature, than that the clover 
plant whilst drawing largely upon the richness of the soil 
for its own sustenance, leaves the earth far richer in plant 
food than it found it. And this marvelous feat is by a 
skill peculiarly its own, for the wit of man has never ac- 
complished it. Science has for years been engaged in 
trying to discover some inexpensive method by which the 
nitrogen of the air could be forced into combination with 
other substances so as to be used in cultivating the earth. 
It has never been accomplished. That it will be I do not 



24 

doubt, for it would be a bold man who would set a limit to 
man's discoveries. He that is successful in this field of ex- 
periment, will be the world's benefactor, for he will have 
bestowed niton it a priceless boon. But what man has 
failed to do, the clover plant is constantly accomplishing. 
In your iields, where it is grown, this great helpmeet, is 
silently but successfully toiling for your good. Earth and 
air yield alike to its influence and surrender their riches to 
its solicitations. 

If then clover is the Moses to lead you out of the 
wilderness (and I agree with the writer from whom I have 
quoted this language) I beg of you let the figure drop there, 
and do not let it be forty years in accomplishing it. The 
promised land can be reached in a much shorter period. 
Pisgah will rise up at your bidding, the waters will divide 
ta your approach, and you can pass over from leanness to 
plenty. Clover will do for you what miracles did for Moses. 
Yea it will do more. It will cancel notes, pay mortgages, 
extinguish obligations and bring abundance where there is 
now want. 

And now having condemned that system, which permits 
what is raised on the farm, to be sold from it, I beg leave to 
suggest other modes of getting an income from your labor. 
In doing so I must call attention to some facts which need 
no comment. You have easy and daily access to the Cities 
of Alexandria, Washington and Baltimore, where there is 
found a ready market for everything your soil is capable of 
producing. And get the two former cities ore supplied 
daily with the most of the cream which is used for domestic 
purposes, from distant counties in the State of New York. 
And when you request the purchasers to take their supply 
from Virginia, they will do so only at a reduced price, for 
the alleged reason, that for the want of good pasture ioe can- 
not produce so good an article. They think— and with some 
cause — that broom sedge will not make good cream. It is 
for this cause that our home markets are closed against us, 



25 

and we are shut out from an industry that has made my 
native State rich. 

Washing-ton has also received the most of her supply of 
hay from the same source, and her best butter from New 
York and Philadelphia. This is a reflection niton our soil, 
which, though now deserved, it is needless to say will not 
long be submitted to. For it is capable of growing grasses 
as sweet as ever sprang from the earth, and in quantities to 
satisfy the most exacting. It follows that the aroma of our 
butter and cream may be such as to tickle the palate of the 
most fastidious. I sincerely trust that the day is not far 
distant when the order of things will be reversed, and the 
•place of demand and supply respectively changed. 

Neither does Virginia manufacture the cheese she con- 
sumes, an industry which has enriched a great portion of 
the North, and for which the most of your State is well 
adapted. 

Your short winters, and the consequent advantage you 
possess in fattening cattle and sheep for the market at a 
diminished expense, suggests a branch of business which 
other sections of the country, less favored than you, have 
made profitable. So far as these things are concerned, you 
should fear no rivalry. Corn, one of the most important 
crops in our country as a fat-producing food, finds a con- 
genial soil in Virginia. Boast as they may of the products 
of the Western prairies, your lands will produce as much 
per acre as theirs under that treatment which you ought to 
give them. 

Virginia is a favored State, and I can foresee a great 
future for her. There is a spirit of inquiry among her 
people which will bear good fruit. One of the most cheer- 
ing indications of her improvement is, that there is now 
published within her borders one of the best agricultural 
papers in this or any other country. Each number is worth 
ten times the year's subscription to any one engaged in 
agriculture. As a matter of self-improvement, as well as 



26 

State pride, it should be read in every farmer's household 
within the State. I refer to "The Southern Planter and 
Farmer," published in Richmond. If it does not radically 
change the defective agriculture of this State, it will be 
because its wise counsels are not heeded. 

There is much at the present time to encourage the 
farmer, for the outlook for our agriculture was never more 
favorable. The Old World is not self-sustaining so far as 
bread and meat are concerned, and the deficiency in those 
essentials is constantly increasing. The demand made at 
the present time for our breadstuff's is very large. And 
in view of the constantly-increasing population abroad, no 
one can doubt but that those demands will increase rather 
than diminish. A constant future demand seems therefore 
to be ensured, which must necessarily affect the price for 
farm products. It is true that we are annually bringing 
extensive tracts of " virgin" soil under cultivation, thereby 
adding largely to the products of the country; but it is 
equally true that lands already under cultivation are pro- 
ducing less every year from wasteful culture, and our own 
population is rapidly increasing, so as. to require a larger 
amount for home consumption. The increased product will 
not more than keep pace with the increased demand. And 
had it not been for the partial restoration of the exhausted 
lands of Europe by the use of bones and guano, our country 
with all its vast resources would have been taxed to its 
uttermost to supply the foreign demand. Everything indi- 
cates a bright future for the farmer, and if the soil from 
which he must derive all of his wealth is the object of a 
wise care, his success would seem to be assured. 

If I am not trespassing too much on your patience, there 
is another subject upon which I should like to say a few 
words. In the October number of the "Planter and 
Farmer" a correspondent writes as follows: "There is a 
"topic which cannot be too earnestly brought home to 
"farmers. I mean this. Their profession must be made 



27 

"more attractive. Every young man who can get a 
"beggarly clerkship in town is chitting the country, 
"and farming is treated with contempt. Is there no 
"cure for this <" 

The last census shows that this is the case to a very 
great extent throughout the rural districts generally. It is 
an evil which challenges serious attention. Virginia may 
be said to be an agricultural and not a manufacturing State. 
Her strength, therefore, lies in the products of her soil. 
By the withdrawal of her young men from its cultivation, 
she is weakened in a vital point. Goldsmith deplored this 
evil. In his " Deserted Village,' ' he immortalized a great 
truth by saying : 

"111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
"Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 
" Princes and lords may flourish or may fade ; 
" A breath can make them, as a breath hath made. 
"But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 
" Wlien once destroyed, can never be supplied.' 1 '' 

The future glory and prosperity of Virginia depends 
more upon the character of the men who shall cultivate her 
soil, than those who shall draw salaries from her treasury. 
Put intelligence upon the farm, and you will have distinc- 
tion in the cabinet. A successful scientific agriculture 
infuses life and health in the whole body politic, and 
strengthens the arm of the State. Young men can make 
no more fatal mistake, than to look upon farm labor as 
degrading. To till the soil is an honorable as well as a useful 
employment. The first command of the Almighty, after 
the creation of man, was, that he should "subdue" the 
earth. That command afterwards received its practical 
fulfilment when Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden 
with the Divine injunction "to dress and keep it." And as 
if this were not enough to dignify and ennoble the labor of 
the husbandman, we are told by the sacred historian that 
whilst "the heavens, earth and sea' 1 were called into 



28 

existence by a simple command, yet that " The Lord 
"planted the Garden which Adam was commanded 'to dress 
and keep.' ' The necessity for toil, therefore is not, as has 
been so often alleged, a part of the curse, consequent upon 
the fall, for these events to which I allude, were before the 
great transgression. The necessity for labor should there- 
fore be regarded as a blessing. The Psalmist, in enumer- 
ating the evidences of God's goodness and wisdom, ex- 
claims, "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor 
until the evening." Labor, therefore, should not be 
treated with contempt. Neither should farming be made 
so unattractive and repulsive as to drive young men to the 
large towns* and cities to seek precarious livelihoods there. 
Is the country to lose not only their presence, but also 
their energies, their talents, and the benefit of their exam- 
ple ? A remedy may be found for all this. Young men 
can and must be attracted to country life. That remedy is 
in the hands of the present generation. It is to make farm- 
ing more attractive by making it more profitable and less 
laborious. If instead of fields covered with broom sedge, 
and scarred by deep, cavernous and unsightly gullies, 
capable of producing, under the treatment they receive, 
barely sufficient to pay the expense of cultivation, your 
sons could look upon rich, well-cultivated and productive 
farms, adorned with herds of well-bred cattle, barns burst- 
ing with the rich fruits of the harvest, they would cease to 
sigh for city life and adventure. They then could see some- 
thing ahead in their lives beside unrecompensed toil and 
griping poverty. I do not say they could accumulate great- 
wealth, but I do affirm that they could surround themselves 
with the comforts and luxuries of life sufficient for a rational 
enjoyment. 

What we want on the farm is that energy and enterprise 
which makes the successful merchant, that talent which 
makes the successful professional man, and that educated 
observation which enables men to unlock the secrets of 



29 

nature, comprehend her laws, and appropriate her wealth. 
No other calling opens a wider field for investigation or a 
grander opportunity for useful experiment, which may 
benefit not only the individual, but all mankind. 

It is desirable to accumulate wealth, but it is still better 
to be useful. It is our privilege to be rich, whilst it is our 
duty to be useful to our fellow men. It is a hackneyed 
saying, that he who makes two blades of grass grow where 
but one grew before, is a public benefactor ; and it is true. 
It illustrates that great want that everywhere exists for 
progress in the cultivation of the earth, and the willingness 
of the world to honor those who contribute to it. 

Who deserves to be more honored than he who first dis- 
covered the constituent elements of vegetable life, or Lawes 
and Gilbert of England, Ville of France, who have spent 
their lives in experimental farming for the good of man- 
kind, or Johnson of our own country, who has written those 
wonderful books entitled ' ' How Plants Grow ' ' and ' ' How 
Plants Feed 11 ? And who will so effectually win fame as 
he who shall yet discover some practical method by which 
that coy constituent, composing ninety per cent, of the 
atmosphere, shall be wooed into an alliance with other 
objects, so as to be used in enriching the earth ? Whose 
names more readily occur to us here to-day at this harvest 
festival, as objects of our gratitude, than Ruffin and Taylor, 
of your own State, who have left behind them as monuments 
of their usefulness the examples they set in improving 
agriculture 1 Had their admonitions been heeded, Virginia 
would have been to-day far in advance of her present con- 
dition ; and while all may not expect to reach the same 
measure of usefulness, yet there is an opportunity for every 
one who tills an acre of soil, to aid in bringing about a 
state of things which will remedy the evils which now 
exist. 

It should be the object of every one, young and old, to 
co-operate in making Virginia more attractive than it is. 



30 

The West, with all its boasted advantages, has no such 
claims on the favors of the young, nor docs she present so 
many advantages to those seeking new homes; and ye 
when it is proposed to such that they turn their faces 
toward this State, they raise two objections which are 
difficult to answer. 

First — That her lands are exhausted, and cannot be 
resuscitated except at a great expense. 

Second — That her roads are neglected, and at times 
almost impassable. 

For these reasons, hundreds of persons who otherwise 
would seek homes here are turned away. 

It is in your power to remedy these tilings, and in doing 
so you will not only attract strangers from abroad, but you 
will make Virginia more attractive to your children at 
home. There is no more important object than this. Bind 
your sons to the soil by every means in your power. Over- 
come, if possible, any desire on their part to leave the 
country for city life. Let them compare the present con- 
dition of the tillers of the soil with that of the tradesman, 
and they will see that the advantage is hugely with the 
husbandman. 

A general wave of commercial disaster has swept over 
the country, and what wrecks it has left behind ! Fortunes 
which were the accumulations of years of industry have 
been swallowed up in an hour! Men rich yesterday are 
poor to-day ! But these misfortunes have fallen upon 
those engaged in trade and commerce, and those who lived 
upon investments. The tillers of the soil have been 
affected less by this general disaster than any other class. 
Land withstands commercial shocks and crises, when 
everything else gives way ; and he who now owns even ;i 
poor Virginia farm is envied by the man who but a few 
years ago was the leader in commercial strife, and thought 
himself secure against all perturbations of trade. If there 
ever was a time when young men should pause before leav- 



81 

ing the farm, to enter upon that voyage, where out of every 
one hundred who embark there are ninety- nine wrecks, it 
is the present. 

Though large wealth is not accumulated by cultivation 
of the earth, yet there are compensating advantages. 

Men may cease to trade, but they must and will eat. 
Bills of exchange may prove valueless, but the garnered 
harvest will still have a value. The ship may rot in the 
harbor, but the plow will still turn the furrow. Nature is 
never bankrupt. Whatever else fails, she will remain sol- 
vent. The dews and rains of heaven will ever fall lovingly 
upon the earth's bosom and the arrows of light descend 
from the sun's exhaustless quiver. She will never fail to 
bring forth corn and wine to make glad the heart of man. 
Thieves may break in and steal bill and bond, but the farm 
is not the subject of larceny. 

Go to the mansion of the rich man even in his days of 
prosperity and wherein has he the advantage of the farmer? 
He may point to his polished mahogany, but he did not give 
it that polish and the cabinet-maker has plenty more of the 
same kind to sell to him who has money to buy. He may 
point with pride to his stately mansion, but it is too 
elaborate to be comfortable, and too expensive to be enjoyed. 
The farmer on the other hand looks upon the iields, that he 
has made beautiful, upon herds that he has reared, and 
upon the golden grain that he has garnered. They are the 
immediate products of his toil and not of another's, and 
therefore give zest to his enjoyment. 

The country with all of its hardships and toils is the 
place for rational enjoyments and all the wealth which the 
city offers to the most successful enterprise will not repay 
its loss. 

The tendency of city life is to blunt the sensibilities and 
demoralize the heart. I have seen those who had severed 
all connection with country life and become so absorbed in 
schemes for amassing wealth as to lose all capacity to enjoy 



32 

the country. In my judgement this is a loss wholly uncom- 
pensated by the wealth which they have sacrificed their 
better natures to accumulate. 

I know of such who have acquired in commercial pur- 
suits far more than sufficient for the gratification of actual 
or fancied wants, and who weary and worn with city cares 
have returned at the close of life to enjoy the country. 
But alas ! they found when too late that they had bartered 
away their capacity to do so. They had never brought an 
offering to nature's shrine and in return she refused to 
permit them to participate in the beauties of her laboratory. 
She withholds from the eyes of such, the beauties of her 
face, and from their ears the music of her thousand voices. 
I know of no sadder spectacle than this. 

t 

kk He that soweth, shall he not reap V 

Such men look upon broad acres only to calculate how 
much they would cut up for into city lots. 

Such persons can never truly enjoy anything. Their 
ideas of happiness are inseparably connected with wealth 
and ostentation, and the value of a thing is judged always 
by what it costs. To such, age brings no repose. Wealth 
has always been the god of their worship, and when de- 
clining years impair the mental and physical powers, the 
idol.becomes the master and rules its slave with a rod of iron. 
No greater misfortune can befal any man than the accumu- 
lation of great wealth without the capacity to enjoy anything 
beyond the bank account, or the balance sheet. 

Such is the penalty often involved in success in great 
cities, where wealth comes in like a Hood, to drown 
all desires and emotions, except the worship of itself. 

On the other hand, what a harmony there is between 
waning years and the tranquility of rural life, where the 
objects of existence have not been perverted. If a life has 
been well spent, age brings with it a desire for quiet and 



33 

repose. That can only be found far away from the mart 
and the forum. The rustic patriarch in some country re- 
treat enjoying a bare competence, who sits under the shade 
of the tree his hand has planted, and admires the green 
helds, which Ms labor has beautified, is more to be envied 
than the rich man who measures his rent rolls by the yard, 
and counts his fortune by millions. 

Again, and again, let me urge upon those who despise 
the farm and are chafing for opportunity to plunge in the 
whirlpool of city adventure and strife, to profit by the 
experience of those who have preceeded them in the perilous 
step. Go not where the eternal hum of busy life ever stun 
the ear ; where the never ending struggle in social, com- 
mercial, and political position engrosses every hour, where 
the mingled voices of XDleasure and pain, hope and despair 
burden the very air of heaven. 

Remain in the country where wants are measured by the 
capacity for rational enjoyment, and where nature, and not 
the follies and misforfunes of your fellow men, is your 
teacher. 

Stay where every hour some object of natural beauty, 
fresh from its Maker's hands, presents itself for your admi- 
ration and enjoyment. Grow wiser and better in looking 
upon the simple violet which makes its toilet of beauty 
obedient to its Maker's will. 

Learn a lesson from the wild Clematis which spreads its 
folds of snowy gracefulness over the fallen oak — the type 
of charity in an evil world. 

Learn humility and forgiveness from the brook which 
washes clean the rock, that obstructs its passage, and chants 
its sweetest music to the pebbles which lie obscure beneath 
its surface. 

Stay where the spirit of life and love moves upon every- 
thing you see. 

" The simple flowers are social and benevolent, and he 
" Who holdeth converse in their language pure, 
" Shall And Him who Eden's garden drest — 
" His Maker, there to teach his listening heart." 



34 

Farmers of Virginia you live in a favored land, and have 
cause for gratitude for the blessings yon enjoy. 

The whirlwind has not torn the ripened ear from its stalk, 
nor has the herd sickened in the held. 

Great cities seek the fruits of your labors, and make you 
ample returns therefor. 

Your fields are no longer crimson with human blood and 
made desolate with the tread of contending hosts. Every- 
thing around you indicates a growing prosperity. 

Here, then, at the close of this annual festival let the 
incense of grateful hearts rise to the God of the Harvest 
and the fruitful held. 

" Let His works praise him." 

" The rolling seasons, as they move, 
" Proclaim His constant care." 



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